The next morning Chen Zhen woke to the smell of grilled meat. It smelt better then any food he had ever eaten before in him life, he was practically drooling as he got out of bed. He ran down to the stream and got cleaned up before coming back to the shack and sitting at the table. There were two plates of meet and a strange vegetable that Chen Zhen had never seen before. It looked like a purple carrot was somehow connected to a cabbage leaf at its point. When he asked Shanggu Julong what it was he explained that it was a very low grade spirit herb that would help his body absorb and refine the energy he took in. This was a very common plant used in many clans and sects when children started to first cultivate. At first Chen Zhen was surprised, but after giving it a little thought he realized that the sooner someone started cultivating the better their chances of reaching a higher realm would be. Since he wasn't from this world he would literally be treated with kid gloves until he reached at least the liquid core stage. By then his body would be strong enough to withstand more intense training, that was the game plan for now.

As Chen Zhen started eating he took a bite of the Thunder Bison first. As soon as he swallowed he felt a rush of lightening energy flood down his throat straight into his dantian. This rush of energy was easily a hundred times more potent then any energy he had taken in so far. Even though it was startling because of the volume of energy it wasn't painful at all. It left a very pleasant feeling in his body. Chen Zhen's clone quickly got to work circulating the energy around his body.

Shanggu Julong was observing the energy flow and he noticed that it flowed in a similar path to how he used to circulate the energy around Chen Zhen's body, but there were slight variations along the way. When he asked Chen Zhen about it, Chen Zhen just said that this felt more comfortable and efficient to do it this way. When Shanggu Julong observed again he saw that Chen Zhen was right. The energy was being absorbed 10% better whit his changes then before.

"He really is a cultivation genius!", Shanggu Julong thought to himself then said, "When you are finished eating we will try one of the spirit cores."

When Chen Zhen heard this he wanted to eat faster but the large amounts of energy he was taking in with each bite required time to be circulated and refined. By the time Chen Zhen had finished both plates his dantian already felt extremely full and bloated. Even though the clone was still refining his body he had already reached the peak of level 2.

Chen Zhen was exactly were Shanggu Julong wanted him to be. If this little experiment worked then Chen Zhen would have an enormous increase in power when he reached level 3. Shanggu Julong had Chen Zhen sit in front of him, with his back facing Shanggu Julong.

"Chen Zhen as you absorb the energy from the spirit core the flood of energy will be greater then you can handle. This flood of energy will make your dantian want to explode, which is very dangerous for you. If your dantian explodes from too much energy your body will explode and you will die. To prevent that from happening I will siphon off some energy to bring it to a level that is controllable. What we want to do id expand your dantian until it gets cracks in it but does not shatter. As you dantian fills in the cracks we will continue to expand them as much as we can. This will allow your dantian to increase in size two to three times what it normally will. If this works how I planned by the time you are entering the liquid core stage your dantian will be as large or even larger then mine. The advantages you will later on will be tremendous. But you have to remember that this process will cause you excruciating pain. You have to stay focused and keep circulating your energy throughout the entire process. If you pa.s.s out before we finish it will cause a chain reaction in your body that not even I can stop. Are you ready?"

Chen Zhen took in a deep breathe to steady his nerves. The clone once again a.s.sured him that they could do this. It was ready to take over as soon as he couldn't hold on anymore but he would have to start the process. See that he was mentally and physically ready Chen Zhen nodded his head and began to absorb the energy from the spirit core.

As soon as Chen Zhen started he felt as if you were suddenly plunged under a waterfall of energy and all of it was rus.h.i.+ng into his dantian at once. Large cracks appeared in his dantian instantly, and pain the likes of which he had never experienced before in his life almost made him pa.s.s out instantly. Right before he pa.s.sed out, and his dantian exploded the waterfall was suddenly reduced to a trickle. It still took Chen Zhen a while to adjust to the pain and be able to focus again. As Chen Zhen began circulating his energy those large cracks in his dantian slowly started to repair themselves. The repair process would once again shrink his dantian's size. When this happened Shanggu Julong would let larger amount of energy to flow into his dantian to swell the size and expand the cracks again. If viewed from the outside his dantian would look like a slowly beating heart. This process was very slow, before six hours had gone by and they still weren't done. At the seventh hour Chen Zhen couldn't stand the pain anymore and the clone took over for him. Chen Zhen still experienced the pain but he didn't have to try and focus thru it anymore. At the twelfth hour the spirit core was finally completely used up. As Shanggu Julong removed his hand from Chen Zhen's back Chen Zhen collapsed from no longer having support. Shanggu Julong picked Chen Zhen up and laid him on his bed. When he checked Chen Zhen's body he saw that his dantian that used to be the size of a peach pit was now as big as a grown man's fist.

Chen Zhen woke up from Shanggu Julong moving him. Shanggu Julong told him to rest up because tomorrow they would be repeating the process once again. The most Chen Zhen could do was nod his head before sleep overtook him.